Property website Zoopla hails 'game changer' of a deal as it snaps up software firm that links it with 8,000 estate agents

Property website Zoopla has stolen a march on its rivals by snapping up a software firm for £75million - giving it access directly to 8,000 estate agent branches across the UK.

The FTSE 250-listed company said the takeover of The Property Software Group will be a ‘game-changer’ in the industry, Zoopla claimed. It has bought the business from LDC - the private equity arm of Lloyd's Banking Group - which backed a £17.8million management buy-out of PSG from the Guardian Media Group in 2013.

The group said the acquisition will allow it to bring new revenue opportunities to the UK property industry with the first end-to-end service of estate agency software, digital marketing and market insight tools.

Game changer: Online property portal Zoopla has stolen a march on its rivals by snapping up an estate agency back-office software firm for £75million, giving it access directly to 8,000 branches across the UK

Zoopla’s chief executive and founder Alex Chesterman said the PSG deal would transform services for UK agents and consumers.

He added: ‘Our ambition has always been to be the most effective partner to the UK property industry and this deal will allow us to work more closely with our agent partners and offer them an even more compelling service.’

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PSG was launched in 2007 and provides work-flow tools to 40,000 estate and letting agents across the UK. The software includes day-to-day management of inventory, diary management and business reporting tools.

As part of the takeover, PSG chief executive Mark Goddard will join Zoopla as managing director of the group's property services division.

However, the deal is subject to the cancellation of PSG's existing consumer credit licence or the FCA's approval of the change of control.

Mr Goddard said: ‘We've had a long-standing relationship with the team at Zoopla and are incredibly excited to continue our journey as part of their growth and innovation story."’

Analysts at broker Jefferies said the ‘acquisition will ultimately lead to less complexity and more services for Zoopla and PSG's customers’.

They added: ‘In our view, the acquisition provides agents with a one stop solution to their front and back office systems, a clever move and one not available to their main (organic growth) focused competitor.’